Girl, 10, shot while cooling off near hydrant: 'I'm happy she's still here'

July 04, 2012|By Jeremy Gorner and Jeff Danna | Tribune reporters

An undated photo of Kitanna Peterson, who was wounded at a West Side fire hydrant. (Family photo)

Kyesha Kohnke stood outside Stroger Hospital, her face hard with anger, as she described how her 10-year-old daughter cried in pain while a doctor and nurses tended to two gunshot wounds in the little girl's body.

"I thought she was dead," said Kohnke, 24. "It's sad. I'm happy that she's still here. But it's really sad."

Kitanna Peterson and Kohnke's boyfriend were hit by gunfire as they cooled off near a fire hydrant around 11:20 p.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of North Leamington Avenue in the Austin community, according to Chicago police.

"Kiki" was shot in the left arm and abdomen, the boyfriend in the right hand. Police said the girl's condition was stabilized at Stroger but she may need more surgery.

Gang rivalries have fueled an increase in shootings and homicides in the community this year, according to police. From Jan. 1 through June 24, the Austin police district logged 11 homicides compared to 7 during the same time in 2011, a 57 percent increase. There have been 39 shootings in the district compared to 36 last year, department statistics show.

Kohnke said she was getting her hair done Tuesday night when she got a text message from her boyfriend. "When I called him back, he was all hysterical," said Kohnke. He told her a friend had driven him and Kitanna to West Suburban Medical Center.

Kiki was transferred to Stroger Hospital, where relatives joined Kohnke in a nightlong vigil outside the trauma unit. As they waited, they spoke of a happy girl eager to grow up, a good student who likes to sing and draw. She will be a fifth grader in the fall at Saint Angela School in Austin.

An aunt, Tavionne Kohnke, 21, described Kiki as her "little shadow."

"I couldn't even leave the house without her being with me," Kohnke said, cracking a smile. "She's getting to that stage of, 'I'm too old for this.' "

Kitanna's uncle, Jeremy Leonard, 20, called his niece "one of those happy girls who likes being around her auntie."

"For someone that age dealing with something like that. . .It's the worst feeling," said Leonard, the father of a year-old daughter. "I couldn't imagine something like this happening."

Police provided no details of the shooting, but said they were investigating whether the boyfriend's gang connections had something to do with it. He has a lengthy criminal record, police said.

Residents of the neighborhood said it is normally quiet and didn't know what was behind the shooting.

"It makes me concerned about why this is going on, what is the reason for this?" said Alma Carter, 70, who has lived on the block for 31 years.

Ebony Burnett, 26, said she just moved into the neighborhood from Bartlett and feels safe, though she is wary about letting her toddler outside. "I don't let my daughter out to play," she said.

Burnett said the neighbors watch out for each other on the block. "People sit on their porches and they talk."

Gloria Moore, 65, said she has lived there for 12 years and has always felt safe.

"I come home at 11:30 at night, I don't feel uncomfortable at all," she said. "I sit on my porch late at night."